Word of the Day Archive
Thursday August 7, 2003
incommunicado \in-kuh-myoo-nih-KAH-doh\ , adverb or adjective:
Without the means or right to communicate.
Western diplomats in Cuba said yesterday that the fact that the six have been held incommunicado for so long suggests that the Cubans fear they pose a security threat.
-- Daniel McGrory, "Cuba to explain why it is holding six Britons", Times (London), October 25, 2000
This was Morrison's last despatch. Shortly after it was sent, the Boxers cut the telegraph line. Peking was not only besieged, but incommunicado.
-- Martin Gilbert, A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume One, 1900-1933
He was held incommunicado for 72 hours, his phone lines cut.
-- Joseph Finder, "By Any Other Name", New York Times, June 9, 1996
Incommunicado comes from Spanish incomunicado, past participle of incomunicar, "to cut off," from in- (from Latin) + comunicar, "to communicate," from Latin communicare, from communis, "common."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for incommunicado
